International Protection of Children: A Legal Appraisal

ABSTRACT Unlike the legal traditions of the East, the recognition of children's special and vulnerable position, evolving capacity and independent entitlements began to inform the legal frameworks of the West only in the last century or so. While the League of Nations took note of the rights of children in the 1920's, the topic has drawn increasing public attention in recent times. With the recognition of the vulnerabilities of varied segments of people and their respective rights under the UN system -refugees, civilians caught up in armed conflicts, colonized peoples, women, ethnic, racial and religious minorities, etc.-, the question of children's protection in varied circumstances gained traction as an important community interest. Consequentially, an impressive range of international norms that define the rights of, and offer protection for, children has become part of the global human rights discourse. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocols, as well as the institutional mechanism of Committee on the Rights of the Child, is the fulcrum around which the rights of the child is discussed and debated at the interState level today. Even domestically, these norms constitute the backdrop against which the interpretation and application of national laws on children take shape. The Committee is empowered to interpret the implementation obligations of States under the Convention and also to consider the Report of the States Parties about the performance of their obligations, often helping to illuminate the gap between State intent and actual practice. India's recent report under the CRC framework offers a useful case study in this context. The concluding section contains some reflections on the role of national institutional mechanisms in the effective realization of the rights of worlds' children